Winxnet, Inc., an IT outsourcing and consulting firm, announced its strategic alliance with K&R Network Solutions, Inc., a San Diego-based managed services provider with expertise in automation and technical integration. This alliance aligns two of the strongest and fastest growing MSPs in North America, combining deep technical experience and broad reach with local expertise, said officials.

Named to the 2017 Best Places to Work in Maine and the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies lists, Winxnet has become a provider of managed IT services throughout New England and the Eastern United States, with offices in Portland, Me., Methuen, Ma. and Chattanooga.

"Winxnet has been fortunate to experience growth and success in a very competitive and fast-paced industry,” said Chris Claudio, CEO and co-founder of Winxnet. “We have a responsibility to our clients and staff to continue growth and innovation strategies that will keep pace with technology changes. The automation and technical integration expertise that K&R brings to our portfolio enables us to elevate and streamline our support. We are thrilled with this partnership and what it means to our clients.”

The immediate focus of this alliance will be to combine the network operations centers of each organization and utilize custom applications and tools to increase proactive monitoring and resolution capabilities. While this increased innovation and access to a deeper bench of technical experts will be an immediate benefit to Winxnet and K&R clients, the scalability and combined purchasing power will also ensure both Winxnet and K&R remain competitive in the industry, said officials.

"Every decision we make is focused on increasing the service quality of our products," said Mr. Claudio. "Throughout 2017 we executed this vision by adding Managed Security Services to our Managed Services offer. To start 2018, we knew we wanted to focus on increasing our use of automation in service delivery while enhancing the depth and strength of our technical teams, without impacting the culture of client care that each company has cultivated."

Established in 2001, K&R Networks is an IT advisor providing managed IT services and was voted one the Best Places to work in San Diego. The 50+ team supports a base of clientele with expertise in the life sciences, financial, medical and legal industries. Commitment to service, proactive monitoring and true end to end support model have set them apart from other providers, said officials.

“Like Winxnet, K&R was founded by engineers who knew day to day IT support could be better," said K&R Co-Founder and CTO Jeremy Kurth. "For 17 years we have worked tirelessly on our automation tools to not only enhance resolution times but to also ensure top performance, consistency and scalability of our managed service deliverables. We have successfully collaborated with Winxnet for many years through, HTG, our industry peer group. We share common core values and are extremely excited to be taking this next step in joining teams and strengths.”

Although each organization’s NOC departments will be combining there will be no change in how clients access their systems or support and they will notice no changes in their computing environments, services or other scheduled events. The core staff of each company, including leadership teams, will remain intact and there are no plans to reduce staffing in any location. There are also no immediate plans to change names of either company.

“It’s important that as we implement our custom automation solution sets that client experience and service is impacted as little as possible," said Mr. Kurth. "The plan is designed specifically with the clients in mind to increase our service quality while doing it quietly, something we have the expertise and proven track history to do."

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